Recently, I returned to my ancestral hometown of Wuxi , in Jiangsu province , to take part in activities to mark the 100th birthday of an early Communist Party leader, Qin Bangxian, also known as Bo Gu. We were not closely related, but we were from the same clan, and I was the only person who lived outside the mainland who was invited to take part.
Qin was a prominent member of the '28 Bolsheviks', a group of students who studied at Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow before returning to China. With the support of the Comintern, or Communist International, Qin in 1932 - at the age of 24 - became general secretary of the Communist Party, its top leader.
Soon, conflict developed between the Soviet-educated intellectuals based in Shanghai and Mao Zedong , leader of the Red Army operating in Jiangxi province . After the Long March, the tables were turned and Mao became the undisputed leader of the party. Qin was downgraded. In 1945, at the 7th party congress, Qin remained a member of the Central Committee, but his name came last on the list of 44. The following year, he was killed in a plane crash.
Since then, there has been a question as to Qin's position within the party. Mao maintained that he was only an 'interim' party leader, but this is disputed by Qin's supporters and some party historians who feel that he should be fully rehabilitated and his position recognised.
More than 100 people arrived in Wuxi from Beijing to take part, many of whom were from families of old revolutionaries.
In addition to five children of Qin, those present included a son and daughter of former president Liu Shaoqi and a nephew of the late premier Zhou Enlai as well as relatives of other revolutionaries, such as Dong Biwu, a founder of the party.
Also present, intriguingly, was a daughter and nephew of Lin Biao, the brilliant military strategist who was killed in a plane crash in 1971, allegedly while trying to flee the country after having failed in an attempt to assassinate Mao.